by John Nest
Ten seconds passed and his concave barrier began to show signs of degradation. Before he could gather the energy into his staff, a Meteor Strike shattered his Manatl and squarely smashed into his chest.
This attack damaged him for 5,999 points and Smoke's ego was also hit as he was blown away. He went into a rolling motion and hid in one of the bushes.
Crucibelle created the same red casting circle, but this time eight of them at once! It took longer for the spell to complete, but she was ready to fire in all directions.
Smoke switched strategies once more. He took out his Digger's Wand and Armored Armadillo Shield. He quickly activated the shield's Magical Armor ability and blocked the start of the torrential fireballs.
He then pointed the Digger's Wand to his feet and created a trench below him. He couldn't risk jumping away; Crucibelle made it clear that she was a great shot in the air.
With the aid of his Digger's Wand, he started making trenches around Crucibelle. Unhinged, she unleashed her Inferno spell all around her.
Every animal in the area ran away, while the unfortunate ones that couldn't escape were burnt to a crisp along with the plants. In less than two minutes, she burned down two square kilometers of the forest.
As Crucibelle rampaged above ground, Smoke completed a circular trench around her and dug tunnels that ran across it and connected it to his trench. An eerie silence loomed over their battlefield.
From inside the trenches, he could sense Crucibelle's location using Cunning of the Dire Fox, but he couldn't tell which direction she was facing.
Since he prefered his head still attached to his body, Smoke couldn't risk sneaking a peek. He used Symbiote Vision and had Igniz fly directly above her.
Crucibelle paid no mind to Igniz as she stayed in the center of the burnt-down forest patch. Smoke used his Earth Manipulation ability and launched an earth spike from behind Crucibelle. However, she expertly dodged it. He tried several more times, but his earth attacks couldn't hit her at all.
'Why can I hit her with the weighted chain and sickle but not with my earth attacks? Am I that slow?' thought Smoke.
"Nyak nyak nyak! Even my little sister Terrabelle couldn't hit me with her earth attacks, what makes you think you can? Your poor imitation of her ability is laughable, to say the least." Crucibelle let out her deranged laughter.
SLASH!
Smoke's sickle cut Crucibelle's back as she mocked him. His damage finally went over a thousand as he inflicted 1,495 points of damage. He quickly dove back into the trench to avoid her fireballs.
Crucibelle instantly created a casting circle and her Meteor Strike destroyed the part of the trench which Smoke had leapt into a moment earlier.
He suddenly appeared on Crucibelle's left side and made a mad dash towards her. Before she could blast him away, Smoke activated his weapon's deadliest ability, Cyclone of Slaughter.
His movement and attack speed were increased tenfold. He spun and moved around at such extreme speed that his weighted chain and sickle created sixteen afterimages.
Crucibelle created another casting circle and fired a flurry of fireballs at Smoke, but his chain deflected all of them. Her voice echoed while she got slashed and bashed by his weighted chain and sickle, as it enveloped her in a whirlwind of attacks. His weapon's ability lasted ten seconds and Crucibelle's life bar now displayed (849,510/900,000 HP).
Smoke couldn't believe that one of his strongest attacks only did that much damage. He quickly dove back into the trenches before the Witch could launch her counterattack.
'The Manatl attack could've packed more punch if only it didn't break.' thought Smoke as he made a mental note to become more experienced in using that ability.
As he hid inside a tunnel, he took out a piece of jerky and chewed on it voraciously. He watched his life bar regenerate while waiting for the cooldown of his weapon's ability to finish.
Suddenly, he felt really hot while leaning against the wall. Seconds later, molten rocks appeared at the tunnel's entrance and steadily flowed towards him.
Smoke turned around to check the other direction and found the same thing. He used his Earth Manipulation to quickly open a hole above him and leapt out with his shield in front of him.
BTOOOM!
A Meteor Strike struck his side as soon as he appeared above ground and blasted him upward. While Smoke was suspended in mid-air, Crucibelle unleashed her innumerable fireballs on him.
Smoke twisted his body to turn the shield towards Crucibelle. He managed to block most of the fireballs before tumbling down to the ground. His life bar showed (141,344/176,250 HP).
'Should I run for it? If I die here, those guys might fight to the death.'
Even though Smoke had told himself earlier to focus on the battle at hand, he still couldn't help but worry about his private army members. He held onto his shield tightly while pondering on his next move.
'I should probably tell Igniz to get down from there.' thought Smoke as he leaned to the idea of escaping.
Crucibelle stopped her attacks and stared at him. "You're not planning on running away, are you?" taunted the red Witch as she held two fireballs in her hands.
Smoke wasn't about to give in to her provocations, but then his Cunning of the Dire Fox picked up a sizeable group in the direction behind Crucibelle, heading fast towards them.
He sensed sixty Sonstwelters and two hundred twenty-one Zectians. 'Those can't be Laernea and Gandiva. They're all scattered, but they are moving too fast to be on foot. Sierra?' Smoke wondered who was coming.
"Oi, DarkElf, you've been quiet for quite some time now. Are you preparing another special ability? Nyak nyak nyak." goaded Crucibelle.
'She really is Terrabelle's sister. She's got the same annoying laugh.' thought an irked Smoke.
"Not much of a talker, huh? Very well. I'll give you to the count of ten. Let's have our strongest abilities fight it out, shall we?" said Crucibelle.
She made a wide motion with her hands and a casting circle appeared in the sky, between Smoke and her. He looked up and saw the casting circle grow larger.
"Igniz, fly away!" Smoke shouted as he was about to do the same.
The circle reached almost fifty meters in diameter. Since Crucibelle was stuck casting her spell, Smoke instinctively leapt up and started to glide away.
Before he could leave the spell's area of effect, Smoke heard Crucibelle scream, "Meteor Shower!"
Meteor Strikes rained from the casting circle in the sky and obliterated the rest of the forest below it. Smoke couldn't escape fast enough and was caught in the spell near the edge of its radius. He received ten Meteor Strikes to his back and plummeted down to the ground, receiving a total of 75,000 damage points.
A one-meter-deep crater was created as a result of Crucibelle's attack. She carefully went down it and walked towards Smoke. As she got closer to him, she started to gloat, "Hmm. Looks like I won. I thought you'd put up more of a fig..."
She couldn't finish her sentence as twenty glistening Aqueous Spikes pierced Crucibelle's back and dealt 4,000 damage points each. She turned around and saw twenty mounted Aqua Knights jumping into the crater.
Smoke opened his eyes and saw that it was Mamelon, the female Aqua Knight, who came to his rescue. Twenty-five more mounted Elemental Knights followed suit as they were lead by an Electro Knight and a Flame Knight.
All of the Sonstwelter Knights had various mounts: from bronze jackals and dirus wolves to acinonyx cheetahs. They all rode swiftly towards Crucibelle.
However, before any of them could reach her, they were all blown out of the crater by a barrage of fireballs.
With the weakest resistance to Fire, ten Aero Knights instantly perished from Crucibelle's massive attack, while the twenty Aqua Knights only lost 10% of their life bars.
The five Flame Knights had the highest Fire Resistance and only lost 5%, whereas five Electro Knights and five Terra Knights lost roughly 50% of their life bars.
"Wrraaaaaaahhhhhhh!" s
houted Crucibelle.
She kept contorting her back as she began to melt the Aqueous Spikes lodged into her. The javelin-sized ice spikes disappeared in no time.
Mamelon and the Elemental Knights regained their composure and remained on the edge of the crater. A rain of more than two hundred arrows fell from the sky as the Bowed Fishermen unleashed their attacks.
The mounted Bowed Fishermen riding on aardwolves came into sight, standing beside the Elemental Knights. They let loose another round of their arrows into the air. Two volleys of arrows poured down on Crucibelle.
'That's no use.' thought Smoke as he watched the arrows being burned by Crucibelle's fire, but surprisingly, half of the arrows did not disappear and pierced her skin.
He squinted his eyes and scrutinized the arrows coming down from the sky. They glistened like the Aqua Knights' Aqueous Spikes.
He smiled as he realized what was going on. 'They're water arrows!' Each arrow only did 80 damage points, but it was better than nothing.
He turned his attention to Mamelon's regiment. Aside from the Elemental Knights, Smoke saw that Mamelon brought fifteen Shamans, two hundred twenty Bowed Fishermen and a single Light Wizard named Baldaquin.
The Shamans were already busy healing the Electro Knights and Terra Knights, as their life bars sustained the most damage.
Smoke called out to the busty Aqua Knight, "Mamelon! Only Aqua Knights and Flame Knights are to engage her! The rest of you should stay out of her range..."
BTOOOM!
Smoke's instructions were interrupted as a Meteor Strike came his way. He narrowly dodged it and only received the splash damage.
Mamelon turned to her regiment and said, "You heard our Guild Master. Everyone, get to it!"
The Shamans, Electro Knights and Terra Knights moved further back. Baldaquin, the Light Wizard, was already out of Crucibelle's range before Smoke even gave the order.
As the Bowed Fishermen released two more volleys of arrows, uncountable fireballs were fired towards them. The Aqua Knights and Flame Knights did their best to block the fireballs with their shields, but they still received some damage.
Crucibelle created two casting circles, one above her and one aimed at Mamelon and her regiment. She relentlessly attacked them while countering some of the water arrows with her fireballs.
Smoke decided not to participate in the battle and to lay low. He did his best to stay out of Crucibelle's radar, so she would only focus on Mamelon and her regiment.
Both sides kept using the same attacks. The life bars of both opposing forces were slowly dwindling, but Crucibelle still had the advantage of having more life and attack power.
Mamelon and most of her regiment's life bars were down to 30%, whereas Crucibelle's life bar was at 40%. At that moment, Smoke knew that he had to do something.
He thought of a way to signal a surprise attack and ordered Igniz to fly above Mamelon. The dark ember sprite obediently followed his order. Smoke then briskly called Mamelon and informed her of his plan.
Igniz flew into position and waited for Smoke's command. As soon as Igniz got directly in front of Crucibelle, Smoke gave him the signal to shine.
The dark ember sprite released a blinding purple light aimed directly at Crucibelle. She received no damage, but it interrupted all her spells.
Two volleys of two hundred twenty water arrows rained down on her and as she regained her vision and saw twenty Aqua Knights charging straight towards her.
The Aqua Knights' lances glowed and sharp ice spikes were fired from their tips. Crucibelle put both hands in front of her and evaporated the spikes. Little did she know that Smoke was running with all his might directly behind her.
TANG
Smoke's Armored Armadillo Shield smashed into the back of Crucibelle's skull and stunned her for a full second. He quickly switched to his weighted chain and sickle and entangled her with it, immobilizing her.
He held his perlite chains tightly as Mamelon and the rest of the Aqua Knights arrived. Each one of them stabbed their glistening lances into Crucibelle's body and damaged her for 3,000 points.
Once Crucibelle came to, she struggled to break free from Smoke's chain but couldn't break or melt it.
She tried to create casting circles but was always interrupted, as multiple lances kept on piercing her body.
On top of their aardwolves, the Bowed Fishermen moved closer and also attacked Crucibelle with their water arrows, although most of the arrows hit Smoke's chain. Her life bar quickly started to drain away. Before they could finish her off, she created two black fireballs, holding one in each hand.
"Careful! She still has some fight left in her." said Smoke as he noticed the fireballs.
"Now you will never escape our eldest sister's wrath!" cried out Crucibelle.
With her dying breath, she yelled, "Searing Brand!" and released the two black fireballs. One of them flew up high in the air while the other one went straight into Smoke's chest.
Smoke took the hit at close range, received a damage of 666 points and was blown ten meters away. The other fireball turned into a crow and flew out of sight.
Mamelon quickly ran to the fallen Smoke and helped him up while the Shamans immediately started to heal him. He slowly got up and checked his chest. He found a black 'X' mark around where his heart should be.
Suddenly, a window notification popped up.
+ Your party has dealt a fatal blow to the Witch of Wysteria: Crucibelle.
+ Your party killed the Witch of Wysteria: Crucibelle.
+ Your party gained 3,400,000 experience points.
As the corpse of the red Witch started to fade, it left behind several items.
+ Acquired Quest Item for Immense Power of the Blood Moon:
> Witch of Wysteria:Terrabelle blood vial (1/1)
> Witch of Wysteria:Crucibelle blood vial (1/1)
> Witch of Wysteria:Horrabelle blood vial (0/1)
+ Acquired rare hand accessory: Berserker's Ring of Flame
+ Acquired ability tome: Translation - Gobberish
+ Acquired parchment: <???Unreadable???>
As he was still coming to terms with the burning feeling in his chest, Smoke couldn't believe the items he got from Crucibelle. He wanted to examine all of them as soon as possible. He assumed that the parchment was written in Gobberish. He reached for the ability tome to consume it when he saw the trail of two flares linger in the air over Banal.
A red and a purple flare slowly descended. In combination, those two colors meant only one thing...his private army suffered several casualties and needed his help.
Chapter Ten: Wishful Words
Dust scattered as enraged Condortlian Warriors scrambled across the ground near the third wall. They were yelling at the top of their lungs. The Warriors abandoned their circular formation as all of them dove in with their bastard swords and plunged them into the Gargantuan Goblin's body.
"Brothers, control yourselves!" pleaded Adder.
Smoke's second-in-command had a hard time controlling his men. He shared the pain and anger they felt when the monster mangled two of their brethren to death, but he knew that giving in to emotions during battle only makes things worse.
Worried about his fellow Condortlians' status, he looked up to Ichaival and asked him to use the emergency flares. Ichaival quickly took out two flares and fired them into the air, leaving a trail of purple and red behind.
Given their lack of training, Ichaival also ordered the Banalites to hold their fire. Fourteen Warriors all struck at once and tried to pin the monster down, but the goblin would not fall. Despite the Condortlians' frenzied attack, the Gargantuan Goblin still had a life bar of (281,250/450,000 HP)
One by one, the goblin swatted its attackers away like flies. Due to their recklessness, the Warriors were getting their life bars reduced to below 30%. The monster started to grab and throw them hard against the third wall.
THUD
A Warrior's body smashed into the wall and the impac
t drained all of his remaining life bar.
"Stay in formation!" shouted Adder.
THUD
Another Condortlian was thrown head first towards the wall. Even with his skull helm on, the Warrior still died. His body slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood on it.
Adder desperately needed the other Condortlians to come to their senses. He ran towards the goblin, pulling back and pushing his men aside to get through to it.
With all his might, Adder slashed his double-bladed sword across the monster's chest, but not before receiving its right cross punch. They were both knocked back by this exchange.